Akonder Zaim

Akonder Zaim (21 December 1766-21 July 1798) was a leader of the Mamelukes and the commander of a regiment of Azzars during the Egypt Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Zaim fought against the invading French army of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Zaim was killed by French grapeshot during the Battle of the Pyramids.

Biography


Akonder Zaim was born in Zagazig in Al Sharqia Governorate in Egypt on 21 December 1766, and became a commander of the Mamelukes, leading a band of Azzars during the Egypt Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Zaim was one of the generals who commanded forces against the French Army in the decisive Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July 1798.

Death
Zaim's Azzars fought in the battle alongside a large army of mixed Mameluke and Ottoman Empire soldiers under Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey. Zaim led an assault on a regiment of Fusiliers of Line of the French army, but his troops were showered with bullets and with grapeshot from the French horse cannon. Zaim himself was hit by a hail of grapeshot and died instantly, and his regiment fell apart.